TRANSITIVE VERB TRANSITIVE VERB ANDAND

DIRECT OBJECTDIRECT OBJECT

by:

Ms. LEILA R. DELA CRUZMAEng Student

What is a transitive verb?

Verbs which always have a complement when in active voice, and which have passive forms, are transitive verbs.

Their most characteristic formal feature is that when a passive form is substituted for an active form, the complement or a part of it must be made the subject if the meaning is to be preserved without significant change.

A transitive verb has two characteristics:

1. First, it is an action verb, expressing a doable activity like kick, want, paint, write, eat, clean, etc.

2. Second, it must have a direct object, something or someone who receives the action of the verb.

Thus, in structures like the following two:

The man sold his car. The wind blew down the house.

The transitive active forms sold and blew down may be replaced by was sold and was blown down, requiring that the complements his car and the house be shifted to subject:

The car was sold (by the man) The house was blown down (by the

wind)

Many transitive verbs have homonyms which are intransitive or linking. It is therefore necessary to observe a verb in a grammatical context before it can be classified.

Depending on the type of object they take, verbs may be transitive, intransitive, or linking.

Thus, verbs such as turn, blow and sound can belong to all three

classes: Linking:

Intransitive:

Transitive:

The weather is cold.The wind blew a gale.The music sounded loud.

The earth turns.The wind is blowing.The fire alarm sounded.

The car turned the corner.The musician blew the trumpet.The watchman sounds the alarm.

The formal distinctions between these three types of verbs may

be summarized as follows:

(1)Linking Verb: has complement but no passive

(2)Intransitive Verb: has neither complement nor passive;

(3)Transitive Verb: has both complement and passive.

Since intransitive verbs have no complements, they do not appear in structures of complementation.

Each of the other two types has its own kind of complement.

Complements appearing with linking verbs are called subjective complements; complements appearing with transitive verbs are called objects.

Here are some examples of transitive verbs:

Sylvia kicked Juan under the table. kicked = transitive verb; Juan = direct object

Rose is painting the kitchen walls. Here the verb is painting and the subject is Rose.

If we form the question - what is Rose painting?

The answer is- The kitchen walls.

Thus, we see that there was a specific object on which the action of painting was being done. 

Hannah gave him a big hug.

Here we see that the action ‘gave’ is being performed by the subject Hannah.  So the question is what did Hannah give? And the answer is - A big hug. 

Here, we also have a indirect object as ‘him’.  This indirect object would be the answer to the question-

Who did the subject (Hannah) -verb- (give) the object (hug) to?   

What is a direct object?

When the complement of a transitive verb consists of a single object, whether it be single word or a complex structure, this object is called a direct object. Pronoun objects are in the objective case.

Some examples of single-word direct objects are the following:

Noun: He found a friend.

Pronoun: I saw him.

Function Noun: We sent several.

Verb (Infinitive): They want to go.

(Present Participle): She likes walking.

Some dialects, notably those of the Midland (Pennsylvania and derivative settlements) use certain adverbs as direct object, especially with the verb want, as in the cat wants out, the passenger wants off.

As we might expect, various complex structures also may function as direct objects, as in the following illustrations:

(a) Structures of Modification

We saw an excellent new play about Mexico.

She likes walking alone in the rain.

(b) Structures of Coordination

The party needs a new platform and a new leader.

The company plans both to find new deposits and to mine them.

He intends to make money.

They dislike studying grammar.

(c) Structures of Complementation

The teacher had the students read a book.

The hot weather caused us to feel sluggish.

I know he is here.

I wonder where he is.

(d) Structures of Predication

References

Francis, Nelson MacFadyen, Heather “The Writing Centre 

Hyper Grammar” (Using Verbs),University of Ottawa, Last updated: 2008.10.10

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